When sisters Ernestine and Catharine McKellar gifted their family’s Bell Park estate to the people of Geelong in 1944, they did so to honour the legacy of their late mother, Grace McKellar, who had passed away just months earlier.

Grace had long been concerned by the closure of the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum in 1923, which forced elderly and destitute residents to seek care as far away as Ballarat. Determined to fill that void, her daughters took the remarkable step of donating 20 hectares of land, once home to the Bell Park homestead, so that the elderly and infirm might be cared for locally and with dignity.

In 1959, that vision came to life with the opening of Grace McKellar House, a residential care home for aged and disadvantaged members of the community. At the time, it was a pioneering facility in regional Victoria, an embodiment of compassion made concrete.

While the McKellar sisters had hoped to meet the needs of their day, they could never have imagined the impact their gift would have in the decades that followed.

By the late 1990s, Grace McKellar House had evolved into what we now know as the McKellar Centre, formally becoming part of Barwon Health following its establishment in 1998. With each passing decade, the Centre expanded both its footprint and its purpose. From aged care into rehabilitation, palliative care, hydrotherapy, specialised imaging and community health services and in 2022, inpatient mental health.

But this is a legacy that will continue to grow, with the emerging needs of today, and tomorrow.

In May 2024, just 12 months ago, Barwon Health welcomed the first families to the Barwon Early Parenting Centre at the McKellar Centre, a purpose-built facility to support families in the early years of their child’s life. In doing so, the McKellar Centre expanded its continuum of care, giving new parents and infants the resources and confidence to thrive. The Centre opening marked not just a milestone in health service delivery, but a powerful echo of the McKellar sisters’ original vision: to respond compassionately to the needs of the moment.

What began in 1944 as a tribute to their mother’s care for the vulnerable has become one of Geelong’s most important health assets, a campus of world-class care that supports thousands of people each year.

Surely, Ernestine and Catharine McKellar could not have foreseen the profound, intergenerational impact of their generosity. But thanks to them, and the community that nurtured their legacy, that original gift still ripples outward. From aged care beds in 1959 to parenting support in 2024, the McKellar Centre continues to carry the torch they first lit.

And what a legacy it is.

Zoe Waters
Executive Director
Barwon Health Foundation